Day 4 - Guimaraes and Braga

We drove north again today but not as far as the national park.  We decided to stop in Guimaraes first and then head to Braga.  We managed to find parking right in the heart of the city - surprise! And the streets were largely free of traffic.  I don't know if this is because its a small town, or the tourist season is a little slow, or what, but we were glad not to be in a crush of traffic or people. 

 Guimaraes is considered the birthplace of the Portuguese nation.  Alfonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal was born there and became king in 1139.  This historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Our first stop was the fortification walls that date back to the early 1300s.  This is a few from the walls of a lovely garden and church in the distance. 

I thought I took a picture of the wall itself, but apparently I was too busy taking pictures of the view from the wall.  

The wall surrounded this historic city center, which was not too large and was mostly narrow pedestrian ways (my favorite!)

Some of the buildings were definitely several hundred years old, but were well preserved. 

This is a monument to a battle victory over the invading Moors in 1340.

After wandering through the old town, we hiked up the hill to the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza.  This is a postcard image because it was impossible to get a good picture that captured its size. The Dukes lived in it through the 1400s.  It was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair.  It underwent restoration from 1937-59.

This is the view looking down from Guimaraes Castle.  What is noteable are the 39 different chimneys!

We were able to go through several rooms inside that had been refurbished.  There is also a wing that is currently available as a resident for the President of the country.  (He was not there when we visited).

This is the central courtyard.  There is a chapel on the 2nd level where you can see the right peaked roof.  A bridge used to stretch across the courtyard from the chapel to the other side of the colonade. 

This is obviously one of the fireplaces for the 39 chimneys, but what I found interesting is that the square in the back opens onto the Duke's bedroom.  He can remove the square and get heat from the fireplace and servants and tend the fire without having to enter his room to disturb him. 

The wall on the right shows the other side of the fire place opening. 

The painted ceilings were beautiful.  

This was the ballroom. 

Another beautiful ceiling

The full courtyard from the 2nd level. 

Chapel entrance

Efforts were made to restore the chapel to reflect the 1400's style.  The balcony was connected directly to the Duke's chambers so his family could attend worship easily and privately.

There was a lot of wood instead of stone and it gave the chapel a very warm feeling. 

The outside of the stained glass window from the chapel. 

The palace had been recently renovated and it was interesting to see bits where the modern was (almost) hidden behind more traditional architecture.  Up along the ceiling, there were clearly cables running under the woodwork.

At the top of the hill just above the Duke's Palace stands the Castle of Guimaraes. It was built around 950 AD to protect a local monastery from attacks by the Moors and Vikings.

It underwent major restoration in the 1940s

There was nothing in the interior but large outcroppings of granite.  You could walk the walls and around the courtyard.  I puzzled over how useful the courtyard was with giant boulders in it.  Maybe it was covered over?

The central keep is accessible only through what was once a single drawbridge. 

You could see different stones were used in different levels, giving a sense of how it was expanded over the years. 

After Guimaraes, we drove through the countryside for about 30 minutes to reach Bom Jesus do Monte (Good Jesus on high), an apt description of a church built on the steep side of the hill overlooking Braga. 

We weren't sure what to expect at Bom Jesus do Monte, just that it was supposed to be a church worth seeing.  We approached from the back side on a small country road, so we didn't even get to see it on the hill side as we got close.  From where we parked, we first ran into a grotto space and a pond with row boat rentals (and a family of baby ducks!).  We strolled through the gardens and made our way to the church.

The church was quite light and airy inside, and very pretty. 

There were bouquets attached to each pew in preparation for a wedding.  We were lucky we arrived when we did, or we might not have been able to go in. 

 

I was afraid we were going to have to walk up all the steps to get to the church, kind of a mini pilgrimage, but we were able to park at the top.  We walked down a few levels of stairs for a photo, but the one above was taken after driving down to the bottom for a full upward view. 

View of Braga from the hillside.

Cathedral in Braga.  

Unfortunately Braga was mostly a bust.  We were already tired from walking around at two sites and it was over 85, so we were dragging.  When we made it to the Cathedral, it was closed (for unknown reasons). 

We passed several groups of people with drums, and this group started up a drumming march as we passed by.  It appeared to be some citywide competition, but we didn't see any info that shed light on the event.